Intaglio printing



1932- .1. E. WOODBURY 1,878,565

INTAGLIO PRINTING Filed July 5, 1931 J52- z/ enr "7071/2 fwai/fx/r IWM Patented Sept. 20, 1932 i, siren star "r est rs JOHN E. WOOIDBUBY, F WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

INTAGLIO Application filed July 3,

The principal objects of this invention are to provide for the inking and printing of intaglio plates in such a way that illustrations and lettered matter on the same plate canbe printed very satisfactorily; to provide for the introduction, between the wiping of the" from the depressions in the portions in which lettering appears, for the purpose of permitting of the printing of illustrative matter and lettering from the same plate both with clear cut impressions. 7 Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to he had to the accompanying drawing, in which n Fig. 1 is a side viewof a well known type of die intaglio printing press with a preferred embodiment of this invention applied thereto, and Fig. 2 is a view of a plate to which this invention is applicable. v e

' In printing from intaglio plates, ink is applied'to the surface of the plate by thoroughly rolling the same by an ink roll or the like, and thereafter the ink is removed from the flat areas of the plate, leaving the ink inthe depressions or cuts. These steps havepaper, and as a matter of fact this difficulty.

has prevented the use of this type of printing very largely. e

t is the principal object of this invention to provide for printing from such a plate PRINTING 1931. Serial No. 548,613.

having an etched illustrative surface, 3111 also a heading or other letter engraving, and preferably to employ the method in connection with a doctor blade for removing the inkfrom the lettered and illustrative portion of the plate at the same time.

A. preferred machine for carrying out this idea is diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 1. A machine is shown in which the plate 12 has its engraved surface at the bottom, but the invention can be applied to any printing machine.

In, 2 is shownan intaglio plate 12 having an engraved area 9 composed entirely of illustrative matter, andan area 8 composed entirely of lettering.

and the further fact that by wiping the plate by means of a doctor blade the engraved lines are left very full of ink. Plates in many cases are wiped by hand and the operator can wipe themchard or lightly'as he sees fit in order to change the sharpness of the imprint, but with a doctor wiped plate this cannot be done.

The trouble that has been mentioned above 7 In this machine the usual counter 10 is employed mounted onaram 11. This counter is raised by the ram to press a sheet of paper on the counter into contact'with the printing plate 12 located under a stationary mean-- ber 13. This is the printing operation.v The printing plate 12 is inked as usual by an inl ing roller 14 cooperating with a fountain roller 15 which bears on the main fountain roll 16 in the ink fountain 17. The roller 14 is mounted onarms carried by a shaft 18 which shaft vibrates. The ink passes from the roll 16 to the roll 15 constantly and is taken up intermittently by the roller 14 and applied to the plate '12 which passes over the roller 14 for that purpose. The operating means for the plate can be of any desired kind and I have shown a main shaft 20 having an eccentric 21 thereon operating a rod 22., which is yieldingly connected by a spring 23 and poppet 2 1 with a lever 25 pivoted at26. This lever is pivotally connected to a-link 27 which is pivotally connected direct- On the shaft is a cam 29 operating roller 30 on a lever 31, which by yielding means, not shown, is kept in contact with the cam. The other end of thislever is provided with the usual trailing doctorblade 32. The cam 23 raises the doctor 32 from the position shown in Fig. .1 before the. printing plate 12 reaches that point, and theinked plate is thus clearedcf ink on its fiat surfaces by the doctor 32 as it, passes over The ink removed runs down the doctor into the fountain 17 This is the usual practice.

On the shaft 20 isyanother cam 35 which operates a roller 36 ona short link 3?. This short link is pivoted to a lever 38 at the point 39. The lever 38 has an'extension provided with a screw 40 bearing against the link 37, so as to hold this roller 36ragainst the cam 35. This lever 38 is fixed on a shaft.

41, and obviously, the roller'36 will act as if it were mounted directly on the leverwh en' the high part of the cam 35 engages 1t. yAt other times it acts merely; as a loose l nk and hasno effect.

A. frame 42 is fixed to. the shaft 41 anc swingswith the arm 38. On this frame is a positively driven clean soft rubber roll 43 which moves up against thecp rinting plate when the cam 35 engages the roll'36 and removes ink from the late." This. roll bein of soft rubber really is'an offsetroller and takes an imprint from the engraved matter over which'it passes, which in this case is the lettered area 8 only. It rotates at the surface speed of the plate. By the removal of this much ink, this lettered portion of the plate is prevented from spraying the ink over the paper and thus an accurate and clear print can be secured fromthe lettered portion of the plate as well as the picture portion.

Thewhole plate thereafteris wiped again by a second very gentle doctor 44 mounted on an arm-45 operated by the cam 29. On the frame 42 is a doctor blade 46 for clean ing the rubber roll 43. This blade is ad Just-ed to remove all the ink from tho surface of the rubber roll 43 constantly as it rotates. The whole unit comprising the members43 and 46- swings together on the axis 41 andis controlled by the cam 35.

The set screw 40 has for its purpose the very delicate adjustment of the pressure of the roller 43 against the printing surface.

This has for its aim the control ofthe amount of ink removed from the engraved part of 'withthe plate to the extent required. roll is not the full width of the plate and that purpose.

The operation will be clear. The plate 12 is driven forward, the roller 14 inks the sur-' face of the plate. The plate then passes over the doctor32 which removes all the ink except that in the depressions. The plate 12 thenpasses over the roll 43 which is adjust-ed by the screw 40 to remove a predetermined amount of ink by delicate contiict T iis entends only, throughout the surface of the engraved lettering on theplate. This is done mostconveniently where that lettering is located at one end of the plate, as shown in Fig. 2 but, o f course, if it is interspersed in diii'erentplaces onthe plate, thisroller will have-to have raised and lowered surfaces to correspond,ior possibly the roller itself willhave to be raised and lowered for The plate then passes over the doctor 44 which may be only the same width asthe roller 43, and then the plate proceeds to the printing position over the counter 10. In this way, the etched villustrativepart of'the engraved plate prints as usual and the lettered part is prevented fromprinting with too 'muchink on it. The printing from. the lettered part of the intagl-io plate is regulated/finely; 7 I

Alt rough I have illustrated only one form of the invention I am aware of the fact'that modifications can be made therein by'any person skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Thereforegl do not wish to be limited in this respect but what I do claim is I e 1. The method of printingfrom an intaglio printing plate, which consists in inking the plate, wiping the surface of the plate bymeans of a. doctor, removing excess ink only from certain. parts of the area of the engraved portion of the printing surface, and thereafter cleaning the flat surface of the plate again. I g s 2. The method ofintaglio printing which consists in supplying with'ink an intaglio plate having both illustrative matter and lettering thereon, cleaning the ink from the flat surface of the plate: and thereafter removing a portion of the ink from the lettered portion of the plate preparatory to printing.

3. The method of intaglio printing which consistsm inking an engraved plate having a plurality of d1lferent kmds of engraving thereon, wiping the ink from the fiat surface the engraved "plate to prevent that portion from printingtoo strong, and then mak ng i-llQ'llDPI'GSSlOIl from the plate.

4; The method of printlng from an lntaglio and described I 0f the plate,taking ink from one portion of printing plate, which has an area provided with engraved lines forming an illustration and a separate area having engraved letters thereon, which consists in inking the plate, cleaning the surface of the plate by a doctor, applying a surface to the plate to offset ink from the lettered area of the plate, thus reducing the amount of ink to be transferred to the paper from this area, and again cleaning the flat surface of the plate before printmg.

5. The method of printing from an intaglio plate, having a plurality of distinct areas of engraved matter thereon, which consists in inking the whole plate, cleaning the whole surface of the plate and then bringing a surface into moving contact with the plate without slippage for the purpose of removing excess ink from one area on the plate, and then cleaning that area again.

6. In an intaglio printing press, the combination with'means for holding the printing plate, which plate is provided with an illustrative area and a lettered area, means for inking the entire surface of the plate, means for removing ink from the entire flat surface of the plate and means for removing a film of excess ink in the lettered part of the plate only.

7. In an intaglio printing press, the com bination with means for holding the print ing plate, which plate is provided with an illustrative area and a lettered area, means for inking the entire surface of the plate, means for removing ink from the entire flat surface of the plate, means for removing a film of excess ink in the lettered part of the plate only, means for again removing the surplus ink fromthe flat surface of the plate in which the lettered area is located, and means for then printing from the plate.

8. In a printing press, the combination of means for moving the intaglio printing plate, said plate having an area provided with illustrative matter and an area provided with lettering, means for inking the whole plate as it moves, a doctor in the path of the plate for cleaning the'flat surface of the plate as the plate moves, a soft roller extending only throughout the width of the area of the lettering, means for causing the roller to engage the lettered surface of the plate and to roll freely as the plate moves by it to offset the pattern of the lettered surface thereon, and means for thereafter cleaning the surface of the plate engaged by said roller.

9. In an intaglio printing press, the combination of an ink fountain, a plate holder, jlmeans for moving the plate holder over the ink fountain to receive ink therefrom, a doctor, means for constantly forcing the doctor by spring pressure against the plate to remove the ink from the flat surface of the plate, a pivoted frame, a soft roller carried by said frame and free to rotate, and means of the plate, a soft roller free to rotate, means for forcing the roller into contact with the plate, means for thereafter cleaning the surface of the plate, and means on said frame for constantly cleaning the surface of said roller from ink and directing the ink away from the roller. 7

11. In an intaglio plate treating device, the combination of two doctor blades for cleaning the plate and a'pivoted frame between them having a soft surfacedroller thereon, and adjustable means for applying pressure to the roller to determine the amount of ink the roller will remove from the plate. 7

12. In an intaglio plate treating device the combination of two doctor blades for cleaning the plate and between them a, soft surfaced roller, and adjustable means for applying pressure to the roller to determine the amount of ink the roller will remove from the plate. 7 I

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature,

, JOHN E. WOODBURY. 

